


raise your words

by sourcheeks



Category: The Get Down (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Boys in Skirts, Crossdressing, Homophobic Language, Intersectional Bigotry, Intersectionality, Kinda, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Period-Typical Racism, Racist Language, Slurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-03
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-09-28 02:39:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 1,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10066805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sourcheeks/pseuds/sourcheeks
Summary: A series of snapshots of Dizzee learning about and dealing with slurs within and without the community.





	1. faggot

_ faggot (informal offensive) - a male homosexual _

“Fucking faggot!” 

Dizzee had been floating. He felt like he could do anything. It was amazing how much confidence a little color on his nails had given him. The words brought him crashing firmly back into his body. He looked around, seeing some boys shoving each other and laughing. They hadn’t been talking to him. Okay. He should make sure they didn’t. He curled his fingers into his palms, to hide the polish. He left the store, shaking. Today was not the day to buy lipstick. 


	2. dinge queen

_ dinge queen (vulgar slang) - a white man attracted to black men _

“Didn’t know you were a dinge queen, Thor.”

Dizzee felt Thor tense up under him and he wriggled around in Thor’s lap, looking up at the man standing over them. He was probably twice Dizzee’s size and so pale the club lights made him glow a sickening green.

“Don't you fucking talk about him like that.” Thor warned, moving Dizzee off his lap. 

“Getting him off now? Ashamed of him?” The big dude sneered. “You probably should be, worthless piece of black fucking-”

The man didn’t get to finish, because Thor’s fist connected with his mouth.


	3. queer

_ queer (informal offensive) - anyone attracted to the same gender or exhibiting gender nonconforming traits _

“You’re such a queer, dude!” 

Zeke pushed Dizzee off, and he was laughing.  _ Everyone _ was laughing. Dizzee felt like he could cry. Zeke had no idea what he was doing. He wasn’t malicious, he’d never hurt anyone, especially not his friend.

“Shit, maybe you fucking right,” Dizzee replied casually, taking the joint from Shao. He shouldn’t be smoking. He always got more emotional when he did. He tried, and failed, to blow a smoke ring. “I am pretty fucking weird.” That made everyone laugh, and Dizzee could relax a little. They would never understand how much that hurt.

He couldn’t fucking believe he’d been planning to tell them.


	4. nancy

_ nancy (vulgar slang) - a feminine or girly gay man _

“I just don’t understand you nancies.”

Dizzee turned slowly, shaking his head before returning to applying his lipstick in the mirror. “What’s not to get about it?”

“I just mean.” The other man leaned against the bathroom wall, uncomfortably close, and his cologne was so strong Dizzee teared up. “The whole point is that we aren’t attracted to girls. So why are you trying to look like one?”

“I’m trying to look like myself,” Dizzee corrected him, capping his lipstick. 

“Yeah, but I just don’t get why-” the man began, but Dizzee cut him off with an acid glare. 

“It ain’t  _ for _ you to  _ get _ .”


	5. cocksucker

_ cocksucker (vulgar slang) - a submissive gay man; a gay man who enjoys performing fellatio _

“C’mon, Diz, don’t be a cocksucker.”

“I’m not a cocksucker,” Dizzee defended on instinct, feeling hot and embarrassed. This was not factually true. But thinking about telling Shaolin that made his whole body buzz with nervous energy. He felt like he might vomit at the mere concept. 

“What the fuck ever.” Shaolin leaned back, propping his feet up on the table. He didn’t care. No one cared. Dizzee wanted to scream. 

He stood abruptly. “I’mma go up the roof, chill for a minute. I need some air.”

No one stopped Dizzee from leaving. No one cared. 


	6. twink

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry i haven't posted in a million years i'll try to crank the rest of the drabbles out before part 2!! no promises bc i have a quiz bowl thing this weekend but it might all be done by next monday. also... like... sorry in advance for hurting our son

_ twink (vulgar slang) - a small and feminine gay man, usually (but not always) white _

“I had no idea Thor liked twinks.” 

Dizzee looked at himself, then at the women on the stage. He wasn’t like them. He wasn’t really like  _ this _ guy either, who was maybe three times his size. It was kinda intimidating. 

“Um,” he replied eloquently. “What?”

“You’re Thor’s new boy, aren’t you?” The man leaned against the bar and looked Dizzee up and down, which made him  _ very _ uncomfortable. “I’m Jonah.” 

“And I’m not into you.” Dizzee stepped back. 

“Come on.” Jonah scoffed. “Everyone knows femmes can’t resist a guy like me.” 

“A guy like a douchebag?” Dizzee downed the rest of his drink, needing something to steel himself. “I have a fucking boyfriend. Don’t even fucking look at me.” Dizzee turned on his heel and stomped away, grateful for good balance despite the copious amount of alcohol in his system. 

Sometimes, he forgot guys in the club could be just as bad as guys everywhere else.


	7. fruit

_ fruit (informal offensive) - a gay man _

“Man, what the fuck is all over your face?”

Dizzee’s hand fluttered up to touch his eyelids, a little bit of glitter coming off on his fingers. “Yolanda wanted to do my makeup.” Not entirely false - he’d asked, and Yolanda had been ecstatic to pretty him up. But pretending it was her idea was a good excuse. 

“You look like a fucking fruit,” Shaolin sneered. “For real, man.”

Dizzee shrugged, biting his lip hard so the hurt wouldn’t show on his face. “Yeah, well. Whatever makes my siblings happy, you know?”

“You’re a better brother than I ever would be.” 

Dizzee wanted to tell Shao he  _ was _ a good brother, to all of them, but… well. The insult was still bouncing around in his head. And Dizzee wanted to forgive, but goddamn, was it hard to forget.


	8. limp wrist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one is longer than i meant it to be, but y'all deserve it

_ limp wrist (vulgar slang) - a feminine or weak gay man _

Dizzee was flying high. He and Thor were smoking with the Beautiful Girl, whose real name Dizzee has forgotten in his haze (Beautiful Girl suited her better, like she was made out of light and smiles and the superhero pill she’d kissed into Dizzee’s mouth when they met), and someone Dizzee didn’t know and whose gender he could not place and did not wish to. 

The roof of the club looked just like the roof of any other building in New York, but this one had queens and queers (after hearing it fall like a compliment from enough people’s lips, Dizzee had gotten used to the word and no longer flinched) pulsing together underneath. 

“So some limp wrist with a grudge decides to screw you over. Who gives a shit?” Thor was talking to Beautiful Girl, about some boy he’d never met. Dizzee’s stomach twisted. Thor wasn’t supposed to use words like that as an insult. 

“Yo, aren’t we all limp wrists?” asked the person Dizzee didn’t know. Dizzee was glad, cause the words had got stuck in his throat. He helped out by flicking his wrist at a ninety degree angle, and the others laughed. But the feeling of discomfort didn’t leave no matter how much smoke Diz sucked into his lungs or how much laughter he pushed out of them. 

The people here were supposed to be better. So why weren’t they?


	9. fairy

_ fairy (informal offensive) - a feminine gay man _

“So who are y’all performing for?”

“I don’t know, some fairy with a club down in Soho.”

The insult wasn’t even directed at Dizzee but it made his stomach twist up like a Gordian knot. His dad smacked Boo in the back of the head. 

“Don’t talk like that, boy. He’s putting you on and you’ll show some respect. Some of the greatest musicians I know are homos.” The knot in Dizzee’s stomach tugged, tugged, tugged at itself when his father scolded Boo, but did not untie itself. Musician buddies his Dad saw every once in awhile was one thing. 

What would Winston say if he found out about Dizzee?


	10. queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> wow this didn't take nearly as long as i thought. avoiding doing my research paper is great motivation to write fanfiction.   
> a little fluffy ending because he deserves this

_ queen (informal offensive) - a feminine man; a male crossdresser _

“Hey, queen!”

It wasn’t an insult. It wasn’t an insult. It wasn’t an insult. Dizzee felt himself tense anyways, the silky fabric of the dress shifting across his shoulders. “Sup, man?” He eyed the girl leaning on the bar. Drunk and grinning, no malice in her eyes. She wasn’t here to feel Diz up or make fun of him. She just thought Dizzee looked nice. 

It was… nice. 

“You look beautiful!” she yelled over the music. 

“Thanks,” Dizzee yelled back. “You look handsome!” She was what he’d once heard Thor call a  _ stone butch _ , and she was definitely rocking it. Yolanda would like her. He should bring Yolanda, someday. 

He drank and talked with the girl until Thor came back, and they danced, and no one hassled Dizzee or pushed him around. For the first time in a long time, Dizzee felt entirely there.


End file.
